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Mariya Savinova-Farnosova will be stripped of all prizes over a four-year period - making Semenya SA's first back-to-back Olympic gold medallist

10 February 2017 - 14:54
David Isaacson

Caster Semenya. Picture: EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON

Caster Semenya is set to have her 2012 Olympic 800m silver upgraded to gold after Russian champion Mariya Savinova was stripped of the title.

Although it is a formality‚ the gold must still officially be given to Semenya‚ the 2016 Olympic champion.

When that happens‚ she will be the first South African competitor to win back-to-back Olympic golds.

Savinova‚ banned for four years for doping‚ was also stripped of her 2011 world championship gold‚ another race where Semenya ended second.

The International Olympic Committee had yet to reply to media asking when Semenya would officially be crowned.

Savinova has been stripped of her 800m London 2012 Olympic Games gold medal after the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Friday imposed a four-year ban saying there was “clear evidence” she used performance-enhancing drugs.

The four-year penalty is retroactive to August 24 2015‚ the Swiss-based athletics tribunal said in a statement, with Savinova also stripped of her 2011 world championships gold‚ 2013 world silver and 2010 European gold.

Semenya is now in line to be promoted to gold in both the 2012 Olympics and 2011 world championships.

All of Savinova’s results between July 26 2010 and August 19 2013 are disqualified‚ with any prizes‚ medals, and prize and appearance money forfeited.

The 31-year-old former 800m world and Olympic champion was among athletes recommended for life bans in 2015 by a commission set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

CAS took the action as the decision-making authority while Russia’s athletics federation remains banned over the country’s state-backed doping scandal.

Almost the entire track and field team of Russia were banned from competing at the Rio 2016 Olympics.